PIX Protocol

The PIX Protocol Guide and Toolkit is a set of guidance notes, forms and checklists intended to help clients and their project teams develop a
Project Information eXchange (PIX) Protocol for their projects.

A PIX Protocol is a set of rules that have been agreed and committed to by the client and project team that defines how information is to be exchanged on a project. A PIX Protocol can be as simple or as all-encompassing as the client or project team wish depending on the project size, duration and complexity. Although targeted primarily at electronic information exchange it can also be developed for paper based information exchange, if desired.

Research has shown that projects that develop a structured approach to information exchange can expect to save as much as 10% of the project cost from improved productivity.

The PIX Protocol Guide & Toolkit was developed by a team at the Building Centre Trust under the DTI Partners in Innovation scheme and is the culmination of six years work in the field of project information integration. It has drawn on the expertise of a wide range of UK construction professionals who are leading edge practitioners in this arena.

The PIX Protocol Guide & Toolkit comprises five key documents:

• The PIX Protocol Guide – this presents the case for a PIX Protocol and provides an overview of the Toolkit and how it should be used.
• The Client’s Guide – this presents a persuasive case to the client to adopt the PIX Protocol for their projects.
• The Client’s Checklist – this document comprises a set of forms to gather information from the client in order to determine the client’s information management objectives for the project.
• The Team Capabilities Review – this is a set of forms that are used to gather important intelligence from the team on project information exchange.
• The Project Leader Checklist – This is a concise list of actions to be agreed by the team to develop a PIX Protocol for the project.

The last four documents comprise the Toolkit and will be available from this web site for project team use.

The optimum route to agreeing a PIX Protocol is where the client initiates the process by assigning responsibility for implementation to the project leader. The project leader then ensures that the Client’s Checklist and Team Capabilities Review are completed and analysed so that a draft PIX Protocol can be developed. The draft PIX Protocol is then finalised in a meeting using the agenda in the Project Leader Checklist.

The Toolkit also provides alternative approaches. If desired, the client can use the Team Capabilities Review in appointing the team so that information exchange compatibility is one of the team selection criteria. For those teams short on time, the Project Leader Checklist can also be used as an aide memoir to help agree a basic PIX Protocol. Gaining agreement on just some points in the agenda can still benefit the project.
 

A PIX Protocol should be agreed at an early stage, ideally during the feasibility study for the project. It should also be reviewed as the project passes from design through construction to handover as leadership responsibilities and priorities change during these phases of the project.
Agreeing a PIX Protocol is good practice and makes sense.

PIX Protocol Guide

The PIX Protocol Guide

• sets out a case for why projects require a PIX Protocol,
• describes what a PIX Protocol is and
• shows potential users three options for agreeing a Protocol for their own projects.

The Guide also provides an overview of the components that make up the Toolkit and how they should be used.

The PIX Protocol Guide & Toolkit is intended to be downloadable in PDF format. The individual components of the Toolkit will also be available as downloadable stand-alone PDF documents for circulation to team members and others as required. Readers may notice that some of the areas in the Guide have also been addressed in the Toolkit components in order to achieve this stand-alone capability.